


Not Lost, But Found

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Laura Hale, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe- Werewolves are still a thing, Christmas, Derek is mistaken for a dog, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, The Hale Pack is A Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-13 12:04:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12983679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: Derek should have known that the guy who mistook him for a dog, fed him bacon, and gave him a bath, wouldn't just vanish into obscurity, he learns that lesson the hard way when Random Bacon Guy (AKA: Stiles) shows up at his store a few days later, however, what Derek doesn't know at the time, is exactly how much good will come from knowing Stiles, and exactly how much Stiles is willing to do for him





	Not Lost, But Found

**Author's Note:**

> Another peice for 12 Days Of Sterek! After seeing this http://asagi-s-garden.tumblr.com/post/168058303408/arroz-tabby-jdkwjdksnfk I absolutely couldn't resist mistaken-for-a-dog-Derek, I just couldn't

Derek had been going through this same routine for years now, and nothing ever changed

Go out to the woods, strip, put his clothes under the exact same rock in the exact same place every single time, run in wolf form for a wile, run back to the rock, shift, dress, and go home

Simple

Easy

Nothing has ever been wrong with that

....

Until now

Until the afternoon when he came back from his run through the woods and found his shorts missing from their usual place under the rock

A slight shiver of panic shook through his bones, but it couldn't be too bad, maybe the wind just blew them off somewhere or .. something...

He'd find them

He'd _definitely_ find them

All he had to do was track them down- easy enough, just catch a scent and chase down wherever they were

Easy!

....

Well, it SHOULD have been easy, it WOULD have been easy, if not for the fact that the reason his shorts were missing in the first place was because of a raccoon

A _raccoon_ , of all bloody, imbecilic creatures, had absconded with his clothes, and now Derek was forced to chase the rodent around for the integrity of not having to go home and shift, naked, on his porch to get into the house

One never knows when a nosy neighbor may be watching...

To be clear, Derek NEVER intended on harming the raccoon, but he was going to chase it down and get his shorts back come hell or high water!

High water.... or high mud, as it were

He had ended up stomping through a few mud puddles in his journey, snarling and growling with frustration as he jumped and slid towards the porch that the raccoon had just scurried under, snapping his jaws and scratching at the dirt desperately

But it was no use, he clearly wasn't going to manage to reach his shorts from here, nor would he catch the raccoon- for that matter

So, giving up on that particular tactic, he jumped up onto the porch it's self, growling and scratching at the boards of the deck in the hopes of scaring the raccoon out from under there, maybe if he could stomp around enough the raccoon would just get spooked and hightail it ou-

"What the _hell_ -"

Oh _**crap**_

Slowly, Derek turned around and looked up, a look of sheer fright on his face, as he stared at the man standing behind him

...

The far, FAR too happy man...

"-... _**Puppy!!!!**_ "

Oh _**hell**_

"Hey there little guy... whatcha doin' on my porch?"

Derek was kind of shocked that the guy was talking to him like this, most people were afraid of him, even when they thought he was a dog

But if there was one thing he had learned over the years it's that it ALWAYS pays off to be a freindly dog and not a dog that growled and acted standoffish

(You never know when someone is liable to call animal control...)

So he stared up at him as innocently as he could muster, tail wagging and practically preening as the guy cooed and scratched behind his ears

It was nice, actually

Every now and then he kind of appreciated getting the attention that came from people thinking he was a dog- people who weren't afraid of him, that is

"How would you like a big strip of bacon huh? Would you like that?"

He felt kind of bad for taking the guy's food but he knew from experience that the stranger likely really wanted him to have it so that he would stay a bit longer, and since that raccoon obviously wasn't coming out from under the porch anytime soon....

"Awwww look at how fast your tail is wagging!!! You must be hungry huh?"

Yeah, Derek was feeling a bit peckish, he could use a bite...

"C'mon! Let's get you that bacon huh?"

Derek gave something resembling to a bark of approval, wasting no time in following Random Bacon Guy into the house and being immediately hit with the amazing smells of just-cooked food

It smelled like roast beef and bacon and french fries and-....

***Click***

...

That was the door wasn't it?

Turning his head, he saw that, indeed, Random Bacon Guy had just shut the door behind him

....

**_Hell_ **

 

~+~

 

"Look at you, such a well-behaved boy,"

Not that Derek had much choice

Random Bacon Guy had stuffed him with roast beef and bacon and now Derek was about two minutes away from passing out into a month-long food coma, so when Random Bacon Guy had lured him into the bath and started complaining about how muddy and dirty he was, Derek was just far too drowsy to fight back

Now he was sitting in a bath tub, letting this random stranger give him a bath, and he didn't have the energy or the strength of heart to stop him

Random Bacon Guy was just... _nice_.... and no matter how much Derek hated letting some stranger freaking _bathe him_ , he just didn't have the heart to growl or snap at him when he seemed to be so happy to just have the "dog's" attention

...

Plus Derek had probably eaten an entire pound of roast beef and like six strips of bacon so his ability to even stay awake at the moment was pretty shot

"I wonder who you belong to, you don't have a collar on.... ohhh maybe you have one of those tracking chips? I don't remember ever seeing you around here before buddy, are you new? Maybe somebody's Christmas gift?"

Way off buddy

Way, way off....

"Whoever has you sure is lucky, you're such a pretty pretty boy... so well behaved.... you're just awesome, you know? The awesomest dog..."

Derek heaved a breath, relaxing into the way that Random Bacon Guy was scrubbing behind his ears

It was going to be difficult to run out on him, given how nice he'd been to Derek all this time

"I wish I had a dog, but, ya' know, still livin' at home, I own a comic book store so I'm not exactly rolling in money at the moment, and my dad LIKES dogs but not ... like... he'd let me HAVE one you know? Plus I'm away all the time with work anyway, it's a new place so I'm still doing a bunch of the grunt work for it, so you know I'm out late alot and stuff.... but I still wish I could have a dog, I keep telling myself that I'll get a dog when I move out but who knows when that'll be you know?"

Great, now Derek felt even worse

He shouldn't feel guilty for wanting to go back home

He _shouldn't_

....

But he did

"Oh! Hey, I almost forgot!" the stranger said suddenly, drying his hands on a towel and grabbing his phone from the bathroom counter

What-....

"Smile for the camera buddy!"

Derek blinked as the flash went off, suddenly regretting the fact that flash photography didn't blur his eyes in his wolf form...

A photo documenting proof of this humiliating experience was NOT something he needed in his life

"Oook now to post it... ok, ok, how do you think this sounds buddy? _FOUND: Dog was on my porch this afternoon, ate like three sandwiches full of roast beef plus six strips of bacon, was covered in dirt and mud so I gave him a bath, if you know anyone who is missing a big but VERY freindly dog who looks like a Grim in Beacon Hills, tell them to PM me_ , what do you think?"

NO-!

"Posted!"

**_Hell_ **

"Now let's get between those toes, God only knows what you've been walking around in,"

Derek would never, EVER admit that it actually felt kind of relaxing to have Random Bacon Guy massage soap between his toes

Nope

He was never going to admit it

 

~+~

 

_"Stiles that is NOT a dog!"_

"He IS a dog, Scotty, somebody is already on their way to come and pick him up!"

That pulled Derek's attention, a panicked look on his face as he stared up at Random Bacon Guy- Stiles? Was his name Stiles?-

After _Stiles_ had dried him off, he had urged Derek to lay down with him and snuggle, because apparently "cuddling a dog is like therapy for the soul!"

And not long after they had laid down the wolf .... _may_ have fallen asleep

But now he was waking up to THIS freaking insanity and he had no idea what he was going to do with it

No one should be coming to pick him up, he wasn't a dog!!

_"Stiles what you have in your house is a wolf!"_

"He's a DOG,"

Derek's ears perked, the sound of a car rolling towards the house catching his attention

...

A very _familiar_ car....

"Hm? What is it buddy?"

The two of them both turned their attention towards the window, staring down at the black camaro that had just pulled into the driveway

Uh-oh...

_"I'm telling you Stiles! I'm in vet school, it isn't a dog!!"_

"Oh hey, she just pulled up, I'll call you back later, ok Scotty?"

_"Wait! Stiles-!"_

But apparently Stiles was done with the conversation, hanging up the phone and turning his attention towards Derek

"Guess this is goodbye.... huh buddy?"

And as much as Derek waned to, you know, not be someone's dog, he suddenly didn't want to leave....

 

~+~

 

His sister hadn't stopped laughing from the moment he got in the car until the moment she went upstairs to take a shower- and honestly?

She had probably still been laughing then too and Derek just hadn't heard her

That sounded about right

Oh well, it was an incident that could be left behind now

It was a new day, everything was going normally, and he would probably never see Stiles again

...

And for some reason he felt kind of... incredibly sad about that

But it didn't matter, it COULDN'T matter, he had to move on with his life and couldn't get hung up over confusing feelings regarding a total stranger who just so happened to have fed him and called him a good boy, it was nothing to get sentimental over

So with a soft sigh, he tried to focus on his work instead of the slight longing in his heart

It wasn't easy

His family owned a holiday store and it was barely two weeks before Christmas, so to say they were busy nearly all day was definitely an understatement

And yet...

Derek just happened to find some weird lull in the activity at the moment, where all he was really doing was standing behind the counter and working on and off on a few displays, nothing else was really going on and the store was pretty much empty

To make matters worse, his sisters were both working in the back, meaning he was completely and utterly alone here, and pretty consumed by his thoughts

Just as he was about to put up the new display- a job that, trust him, wasn't exactly urgent- he heard the bell above the door ring, jerking his attention towards the door and- ...

... Oh.... holy..-

**_Stiles!?_ **

"Hey, this Happy Haleidays?"

God Derek never should have let his sister name this place...

"Y-Yeah, this is... yes...."

Stiles gave him an amused look, eyebrows raised as he walked towards the counter

"Sooooo.... apparently one of the owners gave me a gift card? Cora Hale?"

"Yeah, that would be my sister,"

"Oh cool! So then you're one of the owners too?"

Derek gave a small nod, not entirely sure how to react in this situation

The last time he had seen this guy he had thought Derek was dog, he had given Derek a _bath_

There had been _**cuddling**_

"That's cool, that's cool, so are you guys only open in December or-"

"We're open year-round, we do alot of different holidays and seasonal stuff, but as I'm sure you can guess Christmas is our main one,"

"That's so cool!" Stiles grinned, grabbing one of the shopping baskets from the stand by the counter

"I'm gonna look around ok? Really put this gift card to use,"

Derek only nodded again, watching as Stiles took off towards the ornament section

He hoped this would get easier, if he was going to spend any time with Stiles at all- much less make a sale- it would have to....

 

~+~

 

A good half hour after Stiles had come in, he was setting his basket down on the counter, a bright smile on his face as Derek started ringing up his to-be purchases

"You guys have such cool stuff, I've never seen some of it before,"

"That's because alot of it is handmade," Derek shrugged back

"Wah- seriously!?"

"Seriously,"

"That is SO cool!!"

"Thanks," Derek smiled shyly, grabbing a small box from the counter behind him and dropping it into the bag that he was building of Stiles' purchases

"What's that?"

"Free ornament, you spend $25 or more and get a free ornament of a penguin playing an instrument, this one is a trumpet,"

"That's so neat! Although I feel kind of bad for the ornament, if you're giving those away for free then it must mean they aren't selling,"

"Pretty much,"

"Poor little penguin ornament... well, I'll put it on my tree, I'LL love it if no one else will,"

Derek couldn't help the slight snort of amusement he gave to that, leave it to Stiles- the man who had stuffed him full of food and given him a bath thinking he was a stray dog- to be worried about the hurt feelings of an unloved ornament

"..You know, I was looking at this little wolf ornament, it looks just like this dog I found on my porch yesterday,"

Derek was about to reach for the aforementioned ornament when Stiles said that, a slight shiver of panic shooting through his bones

.....

He couldn't POSSIBLY know, right?

"That's.... neat," he mused, gently taking the ornament and ringing it up

"Yeah, ofcourse, you know, my buddy Scott, he's in vet school, he SWEARS that the animal on my porch was really a wolf,"

Oh hell... this couldn't be good

"That's really fascinating,"

"Yeah, you know it's kind of funny that you guys just so happen to have made ornaments like this, since it isn't often that you see enormous black dogs that look like wolves, unless, ofcourse, this ornament IS a wolf,"

This time Derek paused, eyebrows pinching in frustration as he paused in wrapping one of the ornaments he had taken from Stiles' basket

"Is there something you're trying to say?"

"Only that I know Malia and Erica,"

Ofcourse he did...

"Ofcourse you do..."

Things were silent for a few short moments before Stiles finally started to speak again, shifting slightly as he did so

"Sooo... what's the humiliation etiquette here? I mean on the one hand, half my freinds are werewolves and I mistook you for and treated you like a dog, but on the other hand you LET me treat you like a dog, sooo..."

Derek was silent for a moment, reaching back and grabbing another box from the counter behind him

"I'll add a penguin playing a saxophone,"

"Sounds reasonable to me,"

 

~+~

 

"Derek!! Hey!"

The wolf blinked, staring forward at the man behind the counter

A few days after Stiles had come to see him at the holiday store, Derek was now on the other side of the counter, visiting his freind's- was Stiles technically considered a "freind"?- comic book store for the first time

"Hey," he replied simply, mostly too enamored with everything to say much else

The store was probably around the same size as Derek's, not big really but definitely big enough for the niche merchandise, but it was decorated and organized in a way that made it seem a hell of alot fuller than it probably was

There were so many cool and unique things everywhere, he was .... well, "impressed" was definitely putting it mildly...

"You looking for something specific Big Guy?"

As much as Derek just wanted to spend the next two years doing nothing but exploring every nook and cranny of this place.... yes, he actually did have something specific he was looking for

"I do, do you have any of the Gotham City Garage Catwoman statues?"

Judging by the look on Stiles' face...

Derek would guess "no"...

"I .. have Harley?"

"It needs to be Catwoman, the girls in my family sort of have this ... family collection thing they started with the Gotham City Garage statues, my sister Laura has Supergirl, Cora has Batgirl, my cousin Malia has Harley, and Laura's fiance' Braeden has Wonder Woman, they want to give one of my packmates, Erica, the Catwoman statue for Christmas since Laura pretty much adopted her a few years ago, I was hoping you had it,"

"Sorry, big statues and sculpts like that I have in pretty short supply because they take up so much space and they're so expensive that I really don't sell alot of them, but I can see if I can order one for you and get it here by Christmas?"

"That would be great, thanks,"

Stiles gave him a thumb's up, turning to his computer as Derek started walking slowly towards the counter, still looking at the beautifull displays set up all around them

"Yeah, no problem, this is really cool by the way, this thing your sisters have going on? I mean what a cool way to show comrodorary, or ... you know what I mean, and I thought like... freindship bracelets were cool,"

"These are definitely different from freindship bracelets," Derek agreed with a teasing smirk

"Different and way cooler," Stiles mumbled back

And to be fair, even DEREK thought they were outrageously cool, so he understood the fascination

"Is that.... a werewolf doll?"

Stiles paused, turning to look behind him and grinning from ear to ear

"Yep! My SDCC Exclusive Cerise Wolf doll, this is the pride of my collection, not for sale, I just like to look at it so much I've got it here to display, it's even more amazing when you that Ever After High was only at SDCC three times and so this was one of only three SDCC exclusives ever of their's,"

"Wow..."

"No kidding,"

Stiles' bright smile turned into a frown though, shoulders sagging slightly as he glanced back at his computer

"Well... my usual distributors don't have it, and DC's official shop is out of stock... but don't worry, there's still a little over a week before Christmas, let me do some calling around and see what I can come up with, ok?"

"Ok," Derek agreed

As much as he needed to find that statue, he trusted Stiles, and if the other man thought he could find it, then Derek trusted that

"Don't worry too much," Stiles added with a smirk

"I'm sure a little magic will do the trick,"

Derek watched with amusement as Stiles snapped his finger and lit a spark of violet magic between his fingertips

Well, if Derek needed any more persuading, he just found it

He had learned one thing for certain about the magical community over the years:

There's almost nothing a witch can't do if they're determined enough

 

~+~

 

With barely a week left before Christmas, Derek had never been more happy and relieved to see Stiles enter the store, carrying with him a fairly sizeable bag

"Hey, guess what I got?"

"Really?" Derek grinned with releif

"I told you I could do it,"

"And you were right, I really.... REALLY can never thank you enough for this, how much do I owe you?" he asked immediately, glancing into the bag as Stiles handed it over and feeling a shot of happiness at seeing the design on the box

Yep, this was the one alright

His sisters would be THRILLED...

"Oh don't worry about that, you don't owe me anything,"

That, however, immediately brought his smile down, a look of shock and confusion replacing it

"Wait.. what? Stiles, this thing was expensive, I'm not letting you give it to me,"

"It's fine, consider it a gift,"

"You're not going to blow that much money on me,"

"I didn't blow ANY money on you Derek, it.. I didn't have to buy it, I got it from another store around here,"

"How?"

This didn't sound right...

If Stiles didn't buy it then-

"Don't worry about it ok? I took care of it," he insisted

And although Derek deeply, DEEPLY wanted to persist, he didn't get the chance

"I'm sorry to run but I've gotta get back to the store, we're starting to get busy wich is a releif so... I'll see you later ok?"

Derek didn't even get a chance to agree before Stiles was out of the store, and suddenly the releif he had felt from earlier was replaced with a strange sense of uncertainty and dread

 

~+~

 

"Derek!! Hey!!"

Stiles hadn't been kidding when he said the store was starting to get crowded, with only three days left before Christmas people were definitely making use of the place, it was pretty packed

"Merry Christmas," Derek greeted with a smile, handing Stiles a decorative gift bag

"Wah- ... is this a Christmas gift?"

"Yep, you gave me the statue for free so don't even think about arguing, or opening it before Christmas,"

Stiles' face relaxed, his entire body seeming to fill out with peacefullness and calm joy

"Thanks, seriously,"

"I still should be the one thanking you," Derek insisted, head tilting suddenly when he noticed something a little... odd...

"Where's your doll?"

"Huh?" Stiles muttered, turning to look behind him

"Your Comic Con doll, it's gone,"

"Oh I... I decided to just keep it at home from now on, you know, no need to tempt theives or have to explain why it isn't for sale or anything,"

His heartbeat stuttered... he was lying....

"Hey Derek, as much as I SERIOUSLY appreciate the gift, can we talk again later? I've got a line building up,"

The wolf blinked, nodding slowly and wishing him a quiet farewell before heading out of the shop, anxiety building up in his gut

Something about all of this wasn't right, and whatever it was, Derek was determined to fix it

 

~+~

 

Derek had never been happier for the fact that most businesses were closed on Christmas

Unless Stiles was visiting distant relatives than he would probably be home, and that was exactly where Derek needed him to be...

It was unusually cold outside for California, even in late December, so Derek was incredibly glad that it only took a few minutes for Stiles to come to the door after he rang the bell

"Derek? What are you doing here dude? It's Christmas..."

"And I have something for you,"

"You already gave me a gi-"

"Open it," Derek insisted, gently shoving the bag towards the witch and staring at him expectingly

With a confused look on his face, Stiles slowly took the bag and tossed the tissue papper out, his mouth falling open and eyes going wide as he pulled out the contents

"You got Cerise back..... but ... how did yo- .. Scott squealed didn't he?"

"Sang like a canary,"

"For crying out loud Scott..."

"Why did you trade your most prized possession for me?" Derek frowned

Stiles snorted, carefully putting the doll back in the bag

"Ok, A. Way to assume, this is NOT my most prized possession, my MOST prized possession is a picture of my mom and I at Disneyland,"

"Stiles, stop splitting hairs, you know what I mean,"

"Look.... you wanted something that I could get for you, something special, for your sisters, it's... a family thing, you know? And technically I could probably buy another Cerise .... if I saved up, but this was .... this was special and I wanted you to-"

Derek cut him off, lips pressing gently but firmly against the witch's, forcing him to quiet as Derek carefully cupped his face, stroking his cheeks and inhaling softly

He pulled away after only a few moments, eyes warm and gentle and certain

"Stiles, don't EVER do anything stupid like that again,"

Stiles, apparently being the speechless one for once, only nodded, licking his lips and very carefully wrapping an arm around Derek's shoulders

"Yeah.... yeah, ok, I can.... I can do that,"

"Good," Derek smirked

"We're both just lucky that the guy you traded with can be bought,"

"Yeaaaaah Theo's definitely not sentimental, although I'm pretty sure he wanted the doll just to get back at me, we kinda have a feud going,"

Derek let out a soft hum, nodding as he reluctantly pulled away

"Comic book store owners in a feud, fascinating,"

Stiles snorted, banging his hand playfully against Derek's chest

"Why don't you come in and have some hot chocolate? I haven't unwrapped your gift yet, wanna watch? I mean, if that's ok with your family and all,"

"Sure, they won't mind that I get home a little late," he agreed, following Stiles as the witch opened the door to the house- a house he was getting to see and smell and experience as a human this time, thankfully

"By the way, how much did ol' Cerise here set you back?"

"Probably about as much as Catwoman would have,"

Stiles was quiet for a moment, rolling that around in his head

"You got off easy,"

At first Derek just thought he was teasing but...

His heartbeat didn't stutter

"Wait a minute are you serious?"

Welp, the more you know....


End file.
